Allovue Raises $1M, Gives Birth to the 'EdFinTech' Industry

Is there such a thing as the “edfintech” industry? Allovue CEO and founder Jess Gartner believes so--and she's raised a $1 million seed round to prove it.

Investors supporting the Baltimore, MD-based startup and developer of Balance, a school financial management tool, include the Baltimore Angels, Serious Change II, Red House Education and the Baltimore Boost Fund.

“School leaders are perfectly positioned to make the best spending decisions for students. They just need the proper tools and training to be successful.”

Jess Gartner, CEO of Allovue

Allovue is on a mission to redefine how the education sector measures its bottom line, specifically by connecting budgetary spending to student outcomes. To that end, Gartner believes that Allovue is the pioneer of “edfintech” companies that connect three areas--education, finance and technology--to help educators make better decisions.

“If you consider the Venn diagram of education, finance, and technology, there are a lot of companies that excel in two of those areas. But at Allovue, we believe the key to connecting spending to student outcomes lies at the intersection of those three areas,” Gartner tells EdSurge.

Allovue endeavors to support districts to that end with Balance, a platform that connects school districts’ financial data systems to track both budgets and spending, with school-level data like attendance and state test scores. “With Balance, administrators can see daily actuals of their financial data alongside education outcomes data, which means decisions can be made in near real-time,” Gartner says.

Currently, Balance is being piloted in Baltimore City Public Schools and New Haven Public Schools. This funding will help Gartner and her team expand to new districts and states, as well as update Balance with new budget-planning and goal-tracking features.

This summer, Allovue plans to roll out a “Financial Savvy” diagnostic and training program to help principals learn how to manage their own budgets. “School leaders are perfectly positioned to make the best spending decisions for students,” says Gartner. “They just need the proper tools and training to be successful.”

This $1 million in debt financing is a second seed round for Allovue, which has previously raised $800,000.